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| Tabriz Civil Registration Office |
According to news spread on social media, despite four months passing since Elcan was born in Tabriz, the city’s registration office has refused to issue an identity card for the child.
The family, who insists on getting an identity card with the name they chose for their child, filed a lawsuit in the Tabriz General and Legal Court.
The initial court did not approve the complaint, citing deficiencies in the case file submitted by the child's parents.
The parents, determined to obtain an identity card for their child, appealed to the East Azerbaijan Province Appeal Court. After reviewing the case, the court sent it back to the initial court for reconsideration.
Currently, Elcan's family from Tabriz is waiting for the court's decision in order to obtain an identity card for their child.
The Tabriz Civil Registration Office’s objection to the name Elcan is due to the family’s insistence on writing the name according to Turkish language orthography. In the Persian alphabet, there are fewer vowels compared to Turkish, which means some Turkish names can be pronounced in several different ways.
Previously, in 2021, an identity card was issued for a child with the same name in the city of Germi in Ardabil province. The names that courts confirm for issuing identity cards must be granted by the Registration Office. However, the Tabriz Civil Registration Office has objected to this name, even though it was previously issued an identity card in the country.
Some families living in Iranian Azerbaijan and other regions of the country are forced to struggle for months or even years to obtain an identity card for their children with the Turkish names they have chosen.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has imposed restrictions on families regarding the free choice of names for their children, and families must choose names from a list approved by the Iranian government for their children.
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
“Elcan” adı İranda qadağan olunmuş adlar siyahısındadır